Ed Matus Makes Rare Solo Appearance; Washes the Struggle Out of His Beard

Back in the early '90s, there were two guitar heroes blazing strings from the wilds of Southwest Miami-Dade: Subliminal Criminal's Ed Matus and Pontious Pilot's Juan Montoya.

As just about anyone who has walked into a club in South Florida (not to mention the rest of North America, Europe and Japan) for the past 20 years knows, Montoya is a social butterfly akin to "Aldo" from the Riunite Commercials of the '80s. So when he dubbed his emo band "Ed Matus' Struggle" after Matus' "angriest dog in the world" public persona, it confused thousands of people, including Matus. While, sure, Zappa named Don Van Vilet "Captain Beefheart" it was Van Vilet's act -- not his own -- that became synonymous with that name.

Matus spent the better part of five years explaining why he wasn't playing in his Struggle -- a fact made more annoying because the band that carried his name had a bigger following in punk rock circles, than his own act. That this was due, in part, to Montoya's charisma made it all the more frustrating. Subliminal Criminal made rocking tunes that fused the muscular riffs and shouting of Helmet with the prog rock sensibilities of King Crimson and Rush.

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Subliminal broke up in the late 1990s following an album release, one tour, and having their invitation to get on Bad Religion's bus and tour the world following a wildly successful opening set stymied by Orlando Promoter Fat Harry.

After a long tenure in shoegaze/electro act the Waterford Landing, and in between stints with Spielberger, Matus focuses on his solo home-recorded tinkering. He'll be making an ultra-rare live appearance as such this Friday at Schematic Records' Anger In Gold Clusters party at the Dupont building in Downtown Miami.

Matus' track "Scheming Trees" is featured on Schematic's new electronic music compilation Nourishment By Radio. Both the track and the entire compilation can be heard on Schematic's Bandcamp.

Matus' own SoundCloud page features the Gay Haunted House remix of "Scheming Trees" along with the catchy tribute to Darwin Award winners -- "Theme from Dumb Enough To Die."

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